UNETHICAL MARKETING

Unethical Marketing

Unethical Marketing

Introduction

Every day we are bombed with so much publicity from so many sources that we started to develop a certain resistance, some kind of “short-sightedness” that helps us block away part of these advertisements and select only the messages we consider useful (Goldsmith, Lafferty and Newell 2000).

The pressure that the teenagers are submitted to, especially the children, must be overwhelming because they haven't developed yet these adjustment gears. The problem is that by the age of 7 years old the children do not understand the fact that the main purpose of advertising is to sell the product, they do not differentiate between the news and the commercials (these are considered by children as being funny news and do not doubt any moment about the authenticity of all the aspects that the advertisements promote, even the obvious fantastic ones and beyond reality) (Goldsmith, Lafferty and Newell 2000).

The strife between parents and marketers proves to become more difficult; while we count on education, positive examples, healthy life principles and the promises of a better way of living, the marketers are using multimillion budgets to promote attractive products which they always transform into a “must have” through media and through the teenagers' favourite idols. We promise them a better life in the future while the marketers urge them to live the present at a high level of satisfaction (Goldsmith, Lafferty and Newell 2000). The young generation is the generation of the moment - they must have now the ultimate cell phone, the latest computer with the necessary accessories and games.

Discussion

Marketing on Internet Target Young Generation

After more than five decades of controversies about the impact of television upon children, recent studies show that the Internet has an overwhelming influence on the younger generation. With the help of the Internet, the world in which the children carry on their life, make friends, document for subjects far beyond the family's horizon, of the school, of the city or even of the country where they live in (Ellis 2007).

Children in the digital age must deal with the duality of the Internet:

on the one hand, they have access to a variety of information and ideas, that can help them to go beyond or exceed the limits of the actual space in which they live and learn;

on the other hand, the video games, the virtual shops and all forms of aggressive marketing ...